Appendix A

 

This document builds intuition for the mechanics of the simulation. The first section, “the environment,” plots the movement of notifications. The second section, “the person,” provides images explaining how agents respond to notifications.

 

The Environment: Sustained Lead in Notifications

When notifications move as random walks, the most likely outcome is that one person (or a small subset of people) maintains a larger stock of requests than others.

With no inertia (i.e., \(a\) = 0), then it is unlikely that one employee maintains a larger stock of requests than others. Setting \(a\) = 0 is conceptually equivalent to all of the following: the outflow is always greater than the inflow; requests are easy to complete; requests terminate at the end of each day; or the person asking did not need assistance and the request resolved itself.

The Person: Responding to Notifications

Condition: Responding to Many or Few:

When help is a function of the stock, then people with more (fewer) notifications offer greater help.

 

 

Condition: Responding to Outflow:

When help is a function of outflow, then people with departing notifications offer greater help.

 

 

Condition: Responding to Influx:

When help is a function of inflow, then people with arriving notifications offer greater help.